James McCarthy (justbreezy) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-04-30 02:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | #december 2017, james, james x zania, zania |
Who: James and Zania
Where: Castell Spice Shop
When: Wednesday, Dec 13th
Status: Complete
There were things about parenting that James had never really gotten used to. The constant meddling that was necessary because children - and teenagers - were essentially stupid was one of them. Then again most people were stupid, regardless of age, and he didn't exactly trust the Castell siblings either. Maybe not stupid but crazy for sure. He didn't know them well enough to be certain of their integrity. For that matter he didn't know their parents well either, he was right between them all in age, much younger than the older Castells, much older than the younger. Now his little girl was going to be working for the younger Castells and while he'd given his blessing he wasn't exactly thrilled about it.
He made his way to the tea shop shortly after lunch with the sole purpose of talking to Zania Castell. It might not hold much weight but he had to try, as a father, to avert any collisions in the future.
Zania was thrilled to have Ophelia McCarthy working for her. It hadn’t been her intention to teach Ophelia magic, but it was kind of fun, plus it wasn’t like she was teaching her anything that every other witch didn’t already know. She wasn’t giving away family secrets or dipping into her personal archive of spells. Ophelia was behind enough that she was still getting a handle on the basics, but her natural talent was strong enough that she didn’t even need spells to breathe life into the plants in the greenhouse. It was a good fit, so Zania ran with it, figuring she’d kind of play it by ear as they moved forward.
She sat behind the counter, going through one of the boxes of spells that she’d had in her basement. Helping out Reagan and Caius had renewed her interest in seeing what she had in her possession, but it was slow going, as she had to review each spell, then categorize it, and attempt to put together some kind of master index. Nic was better at organizing than she was, but she wanted to lay eyes on every spell at least once, so she was forcing her way through it. When the bell over the door rang, she looked up, glad to take a break. “Good afternoon,” she said when she realized it was James McCarthy. She preferred her witch customers over her tea customers, but considering the timing she wasn’t sure that he was there for either today. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
"I just need a moment of your time," James replied pleasantly, stopping by the counter and looking around the little shop briefly. It was a nice little place, it smelled like herbs and magic and while he didn't often use his magic in that way he realized they were lucky to have this sort of source in their own town. "I'd like to start by thanking you for giving Ophelia the opportunity to work for you. She's very excited about it all, I think it'll do her good to get some experience here."
“She’s got a natural talent that happens to be a perfect fit. I’m excited to have her on board,” Zania said. She decided not to correct him on the exact location of her work. Ophelia would be working for the shop, she just wouldn’t be working in the shop. If James McCarthy had a problem with that detail, then she’d rather him not be aware of it just yet. Hopefully, after Ophelia had been working for her for a bit, she’d find it beneficial enough that she could make the case to her father if it became an issue. Zania knew better than to interfere in family matters of other families. Her own was bad enough.
James was aware of the greenhouse situation but in his mind, the two were connected so unless Zania grew something untoward in her greenhouse that didn't make it to the front store, none of that was a concern. He smiled a bit at her assessment, not one to be immune to praise for his children, wasn't that what every parent loved? "She is quite talented," he agreed. "But she is also very young and inexperienced. I've given her some rules to follow here and while I trust her to a point I'd feel infinitely more at ease if I knew you would keep her in check."
Zania didn’t like being told what to do, even if it was something she planned on doing anyways, but she also knew that cocking an attitude at James was likely to lose Ophelia her job. If she wanted the help in her greenhouse, Zania would have to play nice, so she kept the smile in place, even if it was a bit more forced now. “I wouldn’t teach an underage witch anything dangerous,” she said to start. “But Ophelia filled me in on your request, so I won’t be teaching her anything without your approval first.” At least, she didn’t intend to, but sometimes things happened. Besides, she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to get that other than Ophelia’s word. If she decided to lie, that was on her.
"Plants and herbs you have a complete green light on," James reassured her. He had considered whether he was comfortable with Nic Castell being around his very young daughter considering his record but given that Nic knew who he was, James didn't think he had to worry too much about him. He had certainly told Ophelia to stay clear and avoid being alone with him but it didn't seem all that appropriate to request that Zania keep her brother away from Ophelia. That way lay bad blood so he would steer clear for now. "Maybe she'll then teach me a thing or two, I'm terribly rusty in that department if I'm to be completely honest with you." He gave her a charming little grin, well aware that her own smile was strained.
“In herbology or spells requiring ingredients?” Zania asked. She knew at this point how little Ophelia knew and maybe that made sense if James only relied on a specific kind of magic. There was all kinds of magic out there, most of them ritual based, but not all, and sometimes the things one needed were of darker stuff than plants. She wondered if James was telling the truth, if he really didn’t do that kind of magic, or if he just shopped elsewhere and didn’t want to own up to it. “I stock just about everything, you know. And if I don’t have it in house, I can get it. Plus, I have my degree in Botany. It’ll be good exposure for Ophelia, a base for her to build on.”
"I'm counting on it," James replied. "Though I didn't know about your degree. That'll come in handy." He wasn't lying about his lack of herbal components. The rare rituals he'd done in the past relied on completely different things but now he had a daughter whose whole element was of the earth and he was going to be reading up on it more for her sake. He might not want lessons from a younger witch but so far he saw nothing but good potential in this for Ophelia. "It looks like my girl is in good hands."
“She is. I promise,” Zania smiled. She was starting to understand why Ophelia knew so little, even after she started practicing. Her father had apparently limited himself to a certain area of magic and her mother… well, last she heard, she’d handed her grimoire over to Caius. That in itself told Zania how little she valued her heritage. Which was really a shame. From what she could tell, the Baron line should have been hugely powerful, and the McCarthy line was one of the six. Ophelia and Sebastian and… didn’t they have another brother?… they should have had so much potential, but it had been wasted. “Is there anything I can help you find while you’re here? I also carry a variety of crystals, talismans, and candles, as well as a selection of ritualistic instruments. And tea. We also have tea.”
James didn't usually shop at the Castell's little tea shop but he was there and his daughter would be working for them and it was never too late to start. "Actually," he said, looking around the place. "Do you have bloodstones? I'll need four of those." It was for a cleansing ritual he had planned for Sebastian. A curse was hard to break when he didn't have the details of who had placed it on his wife's lineage and why but he had an idea for how to neutralize it since it seemed to only affect his son at the moment and had clearly been triggered by the blood magic D'Onofrio and Kelly had done with him. He could only hope it would help for long enough for him to find the source of the original curse.
“I do,” she said, stepping around the counter to open a cabinet on the far wall. In it were lots of little boxes, all of them carefully labelled. Zania’s home might be a mess, but her store was the most organized part of her life. She couldn’t spend time digging through a mess when a customer had a request. Zania found the box she was looking for, then returned to the counter, laying out the bloodstones for his inspection one by one. “If there’s ever something you need that I don’t have, I can usually get it, depending on the rarity. Or the quantity. I don’t keep gemstones in stock, for example.” Because storing diamonds and rubies in a tea shop was stupid, no matter what kind of wards she put up. It was rare that anyone needed something like that, but she’d had some odd requests. “Anything else?” she asked, doing her best not to ask why he needed the bloodstones. She needed to not be nosey this time. James McCarthy didn’t seem like the sort to share.
She was absolutely right that James didn't like sharing. He barely told the people he was close to what he was going through at any given moment, choosing to do his own thing with some secrecy. He picked out four stones and waited as she prepared them, shaking his head no - he didn't need anything else at this moment. There were things he would need to get from out of town likely but that was easily handled with how much he traveled already. He paid with cash this time, including a small tip for the hell of it. It just seemed ideal to patron the store his daughter would be working for in the near future.
The secrecy intrigued her. Either the man didn’t do much magic or he made a point of procuring his supplies elsewhere, possibly from a source that didn’t know his name or face. She could understand why someone would use such tactics, but it usually meant they were into darker stuff, the kind they didn’t want traced back to them if another witch caught wind of it. It made her unbelievably curious, considering how little the McCarthy family seemed to practice magic, but she couldn’t poke, which almost made it worse. On the bright side, he tipped her, a rarity in her profession. Zania bagged up the stones for him, then handed them over with a smile. “Thank you for dropping by. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.”
James didn't use his magic quite as much as some people might think. He was aware of the delicate balance of things and he liked to get things on his own merit. When he did practice it tended to be dark, protective or selfish though, Zania wasn't wrong about that. He was glad she wasn't overly chatty on the subject, some people just asked too many questions about things that didn't concern them and it was refreshing not to have to dodge that here. "Thank you," he said with a smile. "You take good care of my girl now." He raised the bag in a pseudo salute then turned to leave.
"Will do, sir," Zania smiled, falling back on the manners she'd been brought up with. Though she leaned far more alternative than her parents preferred, the manners she learned as a child never faded. And the McCarthy's were her parents' neighbors, living just down the street. She'd treat them with respect, so long as they did the same to her. And she'd take care of Ophelia because that was how you raised good witches, by giving them room to grow in the areas they enjoyed. It was just a good thing Ophelia liked working with plants, rather than something darker like blood.